Dos
Andes is the new name for VC Family Estates (Viña Córpora), the
leading producer in the Bío Bío region of Chile. Dos Andes are
focusing quite strongly on Bío Bío (now 400 hectares), but have
vineyards across a range of regions, with 1500 hectares under vine
throughout Chile, and now also in Argentina (Neuquén and Rio Negro
valleys in Patagonia). Expansion has been quite rapid of late; just
1000 of these 1500 hectares planted are currently in production.

The Bio Bio River

Veranda's Santa Rosa Vineyard

Bío
Bío is one of newer cool climate valleys in Chile, located at a
latitude of 37 degrees south, 500 km south of Santiago (equivalent
in latitude to Argentine Patagonia and New Zealand in the southern
hemisphere). There’s quite a bit of rainfall here – 1200 mm
annually – but most of this falls between May and August. The
summers are quite hot, but short, and by harvest time temperatures
have dipped down quite a bit. In terms of heat summation, the region
has 1100–1200 growing degree days (GDDs), which is quite cool (for
comparison, Burgundy is 1200, Bordeaux 1350 and the Barossa is
1700).

Santa Ana Vineyards, Pinot Noir

Córpora’s
first plantings here were in 1993, near the small town of Negrete
and the Bío Bío river (the Santa Ana vineyards, now 140 hectares),
but since then things have expanded. Miraflores I was planted in
2005/6 and is 120 hectares; Miraflores II followed in 2006/7 and is
another 120 hectares. The Miraflores sites are on the Bureo river.

Horse ride through the vineyards near the
Veranda winery, Negrete

Pinot Noir, Santa Rosa

Then,
in 2007 an exciting project called the Santa Rosa vineyard was
started, in Mulchén. 40 hectares of Pinot Noir were planted,
followed by another 10 hectares in 2008. There is experimentation
here with different planting densities. As part of this project,
there’s one of Chile’s most remarkable hillside vineyards.
Looking down onto the Renaico river is a 1.5 hectare block with
Pinot Noir planted on single stakes at a density of 13 500
vines/hectare. Near here is another interesting vineyard – the Rio
block – which is 1.2 hectares of Riesling on a long narrow slope
on the river bank.

In addition, Dos Andes have vineyards in east Bío Bío, near the
coast: Yumbel and Quinel.

Renaico vineyard

The
initial vineyard plantings at Santa Ana, near the winery, are on
alluvial, stony soils. These were giving lovely tannins, but the
grapes were getting a bit too ripe, and – to be honest – it is
unlikely that this site will make great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
But the newer plantings are on much more complex soils. For example,
Miraflores is planted on volcanic soils with some clay, and a 5
hectare site at the top of the property is where they think the best
Pinot Noir will come from. The clay in Miraflores is high in
magnesium, which has the same effect as calcium in preserving
acidity in the grapes.

A
film of the various vineyard visits:

Time
for some technical talk: Ca2+ and Mg2+ both
have cation exchange capacity and can reduce the potassium (K+)
content in the berry. If there is too much K+ in the
berry the protons (H+) leave to balance the charge so
acidity is lost. In this case, the Mg2+ in the clay makes
it difficult for K+ to enter the vine because of
antagonism. However, with too much Mg2+ you get yield
problems because K+ is important for fruit set, so it is
a question of balance.

Soils at Santa Rosa - mostly clay

This
visit focused on two of Dos Andes brands, Veranda (www.veranda.cl) and Agostinos (www.agustinos.cl), which are focused on (but not exclusively made from)
Bío Bío fruit.

Louis Vallet

Canadian-born
Pascal Marchand is the executive winemaker. Marchand was involved at
the beginning of Veranda, which was initiated as a joint venture
between Córpora and Boisset in 2002. When Marchand left Boisset,
Veranda became 100% owned by Córpora. Marchand’s side-kick is the
engaging Louis Vallet, who trained with Marchand at Domaine de la
Vougerie, and who now spends 7 months of the year in Chile working
on the Pinot Noir side of things. Another Canadian, Patrick Piuze, a
winemaker working in Chablis, has influenced white winemaking here
quite strongly, and acts as consultant here. As well as Vallet, we
met with viticulturalist Carlos Carrasco, and white winemaker
Rodrigo Romero.

Carlos Carrasco

Rodrigo Romero

The
Veranda winemaking has 46 small tanks, and Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
are made here. Pinot Noir winemaking is simple. All is hand picked
and then goes through two sorting tables, is taken to tank by
elevator after destemming. There’s a 10 day cold soak. This is not
to extract colour (not a problem here), but just to get more of the
fruity flavours. Sulfur dioxide is used at crushing, as well as a
bit of tartaric if necessary. Alcoholic fermetation takes place over
7–9 days, and there’s a 10 day post-ferment maceration to work
on the texture of the tannins. They have automatic plungers on the
tanks but prefer to do it by hand. ‘You feel it when you do it by
hand,’ says Vallet, who likes to use pigeage at the beginning and
remontage at the end. ‘Let the tank do what it wants: I want the
signature of the year and the maximum typicity in each tank.’

The winery

For
the Chardonnay, whole bunch pressing is used. Juice is allowed to
settle in the tank without enzymes, and then Rodrigo likes to use
the ‘golden lees’. After first racking, the yeast lees has three
elements: the creamy, yellow lees, the green lees, and then at the
bottom the brown, oxidised lees. The golden part of the yeast lees
is selected and kept for the fermentation. He doesn’t bother
measuring the NTUs (a measure of turbidity) which can go as high as
1000. He also likes to use horizontal tanks to get big contact with
the lees. Battonage is not used except in exceptional circumstances,
and a low proportion of new barrels is used. He’s careful not to
press too long because of the risk of losing acidity with the
heavier press fractions.

The Miraflores II vineyard

Chardonnay
is cropped at 9–10 tons/hectare. For Pinot Noir, it is possible to
take 7/8 tons/ha and get good quality, but going down to 5 would
improve quality. The team would like to go even lower, but say that
in Chile it’s difficult to do this for financial reasons.

For
Sauvignon Blanc, Rodrigo uses enzymes in the juice clarification
step and likes to ferment clean juice (NTU around 30/40)

Agustinos
Riesling Reserva Privada Quinel 2010 Bío Bío Valley, ChileHarvested two weeks later than the Sauvignon Blanc and given a
long pressing at low pressure. Quite richly aromatic with citrus and
honey notes. The palate has some herby depth to it with attractive
dense citrus notes as well as pear and apple. Finishes spicy, with
high acidity. An unusual, intriguing wine. 89/100 (£7.99)

Veranda
Chardonnay Oda 2009 Bío Bío Valley, ChileClone 76; 15% new oak, 13.5% alcohol. Rich nose, but still quite
taut, with spice and nuts as well as vanilla and toast. The palate
shows vanilla and pear fruit and is lively and spicy, with nice
acidity. A bold, complex wine. 90/100 (£24.99)

Agustinos
Chardonnay Quinel 2008 Bío Bío Valley, ChileA selection of the best grapes aged without any oak. 13.8%
alcohol. Very rich, toasty and creamy with melon and herb notes on
the nose. The palate shows a honeyed richness to the nutty fruit,
finishing with some waxy lanolin notes and a bit of lemony
freshness. 86/100 (£24.99)

Veranda
Pinot Noir Millerandage 2007 Bío Bío Valley, Chile100% whole bunches and 50% new oak. This was inspired by the
fact that some plants in Quinel had millerandage (chicken and eggs
– small and large berries in the same bunch), which was almost
like a clonal difference. These were harvested separately, and just
10 barrels or so are made of this each year. 13.8% alcohol. Dark
coloured. Lovely ripe dark cherry and raspberry fruit nose. The
palate is ripe, dense, lush and expressive with rich but complex
fruit. The dark cherry fruit is complemented by a hint of meatiness,
and is relatively elegant with good definition. 94/100 (£34.99)

Veranda
Pinot Noir Santa Rosa 2010 (Cask sample)This is the first crop from the new Santa Rosa vineyard. It’s
mainly from the small block with 1 × 1m spacing, with one bunch per
plant at most. Just one barrel made. It’s still doing malolactic.
Very fresh and quite expressive with lovely cherry fruit. Even
though this is a new barrel, the oak is totally integrated. Very
promising.